Flex Pack

Ampac Packaging, a producer of high-performance film structures for bags and food packaging—ranging from monolayers to nine-layer coextruded barrier films—has acquired Flexicon, a manufacturer of high-performance, flexible packaging materials for the pharmaceutical, medial, healthcare, chemical, food, and industrial markets. The amount was undisclosed.

Many foreign flex-pack converters have asked me to assist them in entering the huge $20 billion US flexible market. I advise them to plan a long-term strategy based on know-how and quality production. I tell them first to establish a presence stateside. After about 12 months of image-building, it’s time to decide how to approach the US market.

Flexography evolved from a primitive printing process known as "aniline printing." In the early 1900s, this printing process took root to print flexible substrates using inks that were based on aniline-based dyes. Although the earliest use of aniline printing can be traced to 1860, the first patent for an aniline press was issued in 1908.

Lewis Yasenchak has joined Orion Registrar as business development manager--Plastics. In his new position, he will expand Orion’s management team, and will focus on customizing an ISO 9001 Registration Program to serve top management in the plastics manufacturing supply chain.

Raymond Communications' new report, "Canadian Recycling Policy: The Complete Guide for Product Makers," says the author, "sheds some light on how many major US-based manufacturers and retailers have come to complain about having to pay 50 percent of Ontario's $118 million [Canadian dollars] 'Blue Box' recycling program."

Windmoeller & Hoelscher reports it will highlight the capabilities of its Topas FFS (forming, filling, and sealing) machine at Pack Expo in Chicago this fall. According to the OEM, Topas converts printed and unprinted tubing made from polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) as mono or barrier films as well as film laminates.

The secrets to successful retort pouch production — the fast-growing flex-pack application in North Americ — will be presented at The Packaging Group's upcoming seminar series, The Keys to Successful Pouch Processing, in late October (2004).

According to the Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG), during its late-June meeting, it welcomed a new member, set up a new subcommittee for Office Document Printing and Marketing, and released a 2004 Base Line Format for packaging PDFs.

According to Piranet.com's consumer technology news section (June 24, 2004), ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) supplier Nippon Gohsei is keeping a close eye on a project that is looking to boost the oxygen-barrier properties of some packaging materials so effectively that it could wipe out the need for oxygen scavengers.

Tekni-Films says its new high-barrier themoformable film laminate, using 4 mil (100 micron) PCTFE in either Aclar or Vaposhield types, is the "world’s highest-barrier commercially available clear film for blister and packaging applications."

The applications for retort packaging, in particular, are gaining more ground in the consumer food market, according to a new report, The US Market for Convenience Packaging and Serving Size Trends by market research publisher Packaged Facts.